Call for proposal:

Funding scheme:

IP - Integrated Project

Objective

The IP proposal CHARGED PARTICLE NANOTECH (CHARPAN) focuses on the research and development of a new production technology for nanotechnology devices. In particular, CHARPAN will enable low cost engineering of complex 3D surface structures with nanometeri c precision. No such accurate fabrication technology exists to date. Industrial end-users are presently discouraged from expanding their nanotechnology-related business activities by either unacceptably high costs or the impossibility to control production processes on a nanometeric scale. CHARPAN will play a key role in realising the full potential of nanotechnology, as current nanofabrication tools are limited to archaic, slow processing rates, or do not achieve a competitive surface quality. The main in novation of this new technology are the flexible use of different ion species and the 200x reduction optics leading to direct structuring power at high throughput. A 18 member strong and diversified team from industry, academia and acclaimed European rese arch institutes are drawn together in a single integrated project to achieve these ambitious goals: - Development of projection-focused multi beam equipment for charged particle beam patterning, providing a massively parallel beam, structured by a pr ogrammable aperture plate. - Producing a prototype of the CHARPAN nanostructuring tool to establish a proof-of-concept (POC) of the CHARPAN concept and applications. - Research and development of charged particle beam process applications for new indu strial manufacturing processes and new materials. - At the end of the project a CHARPAN ion beam demonstration tool will be produced. It is the aim of CHARPAN to empower nanotechnology with a clear focus on industrial use, and to drive the rapid devel opment of nano-science leading to new processes and immediate industrial exploitation.